Post by Hutch Lanahan on Apr 23, 2017 1:42:47 GMT
Number One:
“The Challenge: Demand Satisfaction, if they apologize, no need for further action.”
“Ana vs. Hutch one. It was the biggest match of my career, Ana. I knew who you were, you had heard of me but I don’t know if you knew what you were getting yourself into. We battled to a draw. I still remember how excited I was to take you on. Eventually, we moved off into different directions. I knew I would see you again. Ana vs. Hutch two. This one? It was a little more personal for you and I. I took the high road. I talked about how good of a wrestler you were. I talked about how much this match meant to me. I talked about if I had to lose this title I would rather lose it to Ana Hayden because I knew she could carry the banner all the way to the end…You were mean, vicious and angry. It was a side that I had never seen from you…But that’s always been you, hasn’t it? You play with a chip on your shoulder. I learned a lot from that match. I learned that you aren’t so hard that your exterior claims to be. I learned that underneath all of that animosity there really is a caring, loving person that I loved to be with for a while. And I learned that Bryan Williams was the worst thing to ever happen to you.”
“You and I both know you don’t want to be with him, and something has been off ever since you guys made it official. I get a little too excited, Ana. I pop off at the mouth, I drink a little too much and all of these feels come bubbling out. I want you to know, nobody has done it better than you have in FSociety. Sure, we may not be the main event. Sure, our rivalry should have been pushed to the moon. We both know that we deserved those spots. We both know that you and I should have been facing for the FSociety championship…We aren’t…That’s the lovely thing about professional wrestling.”
“Just because you hold the top title doesn’t mean you are the top champion. I don’t care what anyone says, the High Roller Champion has meant more to this company than the main champion itself. That’s not a knock on Tyson or Adrien. I’ve been in the ring one on one with one of those gentleman and I know exactly what he can do, but I carried the legacy and handed it off to Ana Hayden, unwillingly I might add. She carried it brilliantly.”
“It isn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, is it Ana? We’ve had a trouble past. I guess some of it is my fault. I guess I shouldn’t have…mistaken things. You see, I came to this country alone and afraid. My memory of America was nothing short of frightening when I was a lad when I came over. My parents warned me of all sorts of things, guns, robbery, thievery and kidnapping. That’s all I remembered from my trip…I was introduced to so much more when I came over as an adult…Probably too much, scenery and sensory overload if we are being honest.”
“Finally, an old friend I know from the circuits in England came through, Benji. I was so excited to have him here. It was something I could grasp onto. Something the felt like home, something for me to…For me to feel comfortable with for the first time. He, my fiance’ and daughter were all here for my first title win and everything just felt so right.”
“But…When they were away…That’s when I felt at my lowest. Then you showed up, Ana. At first just with Benji, and then all of a sudden you were signed…And then when Benji were away it was just us. We had each other. People want to paint this into something it’s not. It shows me how clueless people like Bryan Williams is when they comment about us, when he says something that wasn’t even there…It was though…It was there for me…It was there for you.”
“No, I am not talking about love at first sight or some kind of one night stand between us. We had someone we could both call. When things got shitty, when we both got lonely, or when we just wanted someone to go grab a burger with in a town we had neither been to. It was about feeing at home and in my skin here for the first time. That’s where people are misconstrued about my anger. Because once Bryan came along…It was all gone.”
“Am I placing my blame somewhere it shouldn’t be? Maybe. But I wanted to clear the air before everyone starts talking without knowing what the FUCK they are talking about. I’m tired of people assuming things. I’m tired of people talking shit what they have no clue about. They call me a bad father, they call me a man-whore, they call me a bad champion. They don’t know, Ana. And you know what they say and the words that come out of your mouth aren’t true. You’ve seen me look into Spencer’s eyes. You’ve seen me struggle and fight for fame and fortune. You’ve seen me scrap at restaurants and sleep in rentals and floors of hotels just so I would have more to send home so she can have a happy life.”
“Yet, you take my name and you rake it through the fucking mud. For what? To make yourself feel better? To make it seem like you’ve got a better life going on over there? Ana, we are both fucked and you know it. Dragging me isn’t going to make things any better for you…Because now? It’s personal. Now? This isn’t about a championship. This isn’t about a title. It’s about my family, it’s about my child, because you and your hack you call a boyfriend decided to meddle in business you should have never meddled in.”
“But…But I am willing to put all of this past us, Ana. All of this to the side, if you just…Apologize. Or maybe we both apologize. This…This doesn’t have to happen. It’s the last show, when the bell rings? We can shake one another hand and we can move on to something else…If it salvages our friendship, if we can move on from it. Apologize. You can keep your pretty little belt, and we can move into this without any further confrontation.”
“I know you though, Ana. I know that isn’t going to sit well, and I know there’ll be finger pointing back and forth between us until the bell rings. When it does? It isn’t going to be my fault that Bryan Williams won’t be able to recognize you when it’s all said and done. It really isn’t about that belt anymore, and I’ll lay it on top of you while you lay there in a bloody heap. You’ve both went too far, you shouldn’t have ever let your special needs boyfriend get involved, because that’s when it got personal between us.”
“This company doesn’t want us in the main event…Let’s focus on the real task at hand…Let’s shake on it…Let’s move on, and let’s bring down this machine in all of it’s glory on the last show…The ball is in your court. But I know what the answer is going to be…And that’s why…That’s why I am preparing for war. I’m preparing to do what I need to do, to prove a point…And if I have to do it to you to get through to Williams, Ana? So be it.”
Number Two:
“If they don’t grab a friend that’s your second.”
The knocks came hurriedly, Hutch Lanahan with a grey hooded sweatshirt over his head was rain soaked, and in the shoddy apartment complex, rain could be heard falling hard on the outside. Another couple of knocks came before footsteps was heard on the other side and a husky voice answered.
“Who is it?”
Hutch looked down and then back up to the door as he pulled the hood off of his messy, wet, blonde straggly hair and looked into the peephole.
“Open the door, Benji.”
On the other side, Benjamin Haskell placed his head on the wooded door and banged it lightly a few times. The two hadn’t spoke since their match, when Hutch had beaten Benji in less than a few minutes. Now? He needed his best friend more than ever and it had taken an act of congress to even find the dude.
“How did you find me?”
Hutch stepped up and looked into the peep hole.
“You may have left this door closed for a while, but the door between us will always be open…I had a hunch. Open up…”
The door pushed open and quickly snapped shut behind Hutch, it wasn’t even like anyone particularly would have hunted Benji down, but the bearded man had become a recluse since his disappearance in #FSociety. The room was warm to Hutch, being out in the rain, but the area was an absolute mess.
“I had just put some tea on.”
Hutch grinned, but Benji didn’t match it as he turned his back and walked into the kitchen, he returned with a steaming tea pot with two small cups. Placing two tea bags into the cups, he poured the steaming water over each of them. Hutch quickly grabbed his to warm his fingers.
“Sit…What brings you?”
The small dining room table was barely big enough for both of them, but Hutch settled into his small wooden seat as it scraped across the floor as he sat his glass down and steeped his tea in the hot water.
“I just…I don’t know man…I’ve been worried about you.
Nodding, Benji leaned down and took a swill of his warm tea before he looked back up at Hutch as he poured a little sugar into his tea. In the dingy light, Benji looked just as tired as Hutch. The two men looked like two stragglers down on their luck. It was a far cry from what the duo looked like the first time they had gotten together in Vegas.
“Ah, worried is the amount of times you’ve called me. A need. I can see it on your face.”
Hutch sighed into his tea as he lifted it to his lips and then sat it back down. Leaning back in his chair with a creak, he looked up at Benji.
“I just…I have a lot to get off my chest…And I have an apology to make…And…A favor.”
So he set it.
Hutch told Benji everything. Told him about his problems with Penny. Told Benji how he hadn’t been a good father to Spencer. Everything about having him and Ana around and how much it helped him, and even how he fell in love with Ana when they were hanging out. Throughout all of Hutch spilling his guts out to his best friend. Benji never changed his facial expression. Occasionally he would not. Sometimes they would share an empty chuckle, sometimes Hutch was on the verge of tears.
Both, on the verge of tears when Hutch told Benji how much his friendship meant. The final request came, after what seemed like hours to Hutch, but was only minutes.
“It’s the last show. Hell, it may be the only time we get to be in the same place at the same time with Ana…Why don’t we just make things right? Come with me?”
Extending his hand across the table. Benji stared long and hard forward across the room. Finally he looked over to Hutch and shook his head.
“I can’t.”
Number Three:
“Have your seconds meet face to face, negotiate a peace or negotiate a time and place”
“I’ll beat the fuck out of him, maybe that will solve it…”
Hutch had told himself. For weeks he had prepared for a fight, but he realized that he wasn’t fighting to prepare for Ana anymore, he was preparing to beat the hell out of Bryan Williams. If that meant taking Bryan out of his title match…So be it…If that meant costing him ever having anything more than a handshake with Ana…So be it.
As he walked out the door, he had mentioned his plans to Benji, told him that he was on the next flight to Louisiana, that’s where he would catch Bryan Williams first, and he would deal with it himself. It wasn’t until Hutch was about to board that plane when he felt a hand on his shoulder just as he was about to go through the gate, and Benjamin Haskell stood there out of breath.
“I—I didn’t want you to do anything brash…I’ll go with you okay…I’ll talk to Bryan myself if I have to…I want to resolve this as peacefully as possible…Even if I hate the bastard…Nobody else needs to get hurt…It’s gone too far.”
A plan was formulated. A plan to gather together and make things right…Ana…Bryan…Benji and Hutch. While it was a long-shot…Hutch continued to go back and forth and what he wanted to do. Half of him wanted Ana’s head on the stake. Half of him wanted to pummel Bryan Williams until he went to the hospital for his 47th visit this year…The other side of him wanted peace, and wanted it to be over once #FSociety closed it’s doors.
“We will meet back up in Vegas, okay?”
And so, Hutch let Benji take his flight, and he would catch the next one back out to Las Vegas.
Most disputes die and no one shoots…
Number Four:
“If they don’t reach a peace, that’s alright. Time to get some pistols and a doctor on site.”
“He didn’t want to talk?”
“Nope. Neither did Ana, mate.”
Sighing, Hutch sat on the end of the doctors table as Haskell had made his way into the room as well. The fatigue of training and traveling along with the emotional distress eventually had gotten to Hutch. The same doctor that Benji had seen prior his match with Hutch would do the job.
“Well, you know what that means…”
Hutch trailed off as the doctor wrote a few things down on the clipboard. He wore a long white coat along with a pair of thick framed glasses as he looked down at Hutch.
“It means, you have a clean bill of health but I would advise you to get some rest. I’m obviously clearing you to compete, but you really need to sleep…I’ve prescribed you some medications to help you. Take these, especially the night before your match, okay?”
Nodding, Hutch took the piece of paper. Benji and Hutch both got up to leave and turn toward the door, but Hutch turned around for a moment to the doctor.
“Doc…What could I pay you to show up to the arena for my match with Ana? I have a feeling things are going to be…Bad…I want you to be there just in case something happens in that match. I don’t want to die in the middle of a wrestling ring.”
It was the first time the weight of it all had hit Hutch and so hit Benji in return. Would the war be that bad? Would it come to blood and gore? Someone bleeding out? That’s how much Hutch was willing to risk it all to end this…Once and for all.
“Jesus, that bad?”
Nodding, the doctor looked over to Benji who looked slightly more reputable than Hutch Lanahan with his hair combed back and mustache and beard game proper, he also gave a nod and the three of them shared a small, uncomfortable laugh.
“Alright, I’ll be there. Just do me a favor and just let it be a backstage pass and not work, okay?”
Number Five:
“Duel before the sun is in the sky. Pick a place to die where it’s high and dry.”
All of the bags had been packed and the gear had been labeled in the boxes, as Hutch looked around. Slowly the sun had set over the Vegas strip beneath him. For a while, he had lived the dream…If only for a moment he had tasted the American Dream. It was as sweet as Apple Pie…If Vegas would have been the “death” of his career in a match with Ana were a winner had to be declared, and an issue had to be settled?
Vegas wasn’t so bad.
The only thing that Hutch had left out was a bottle of wine that he had gotten one night after he and Ana had left a burger place. Hutch had felt so good, he decided to buy some on the way home and enjoy a drink. Due to the traveling and making shows, he hadn’t had time to finish it. Tonight would probably be that night.
Lifting his glass in the air, he gave a sideways smile. He wondered what Ana was thinking, he prayed for a better tomorrow.
“Here’s to you…Vegas.”
Number Six:
“Leave a note for your next of kin. Tell him where you’ve been, pray that hell or heaven lets you in.”
Dear, FSociety:
Thank you.
Thank you for giving me a home. Thank you for giving just some lad with a hope and a couple of dollars a chance. Along the way in this cut-throat business I have made mistakes. They’re not my first and they sure as hell won’t be my last.
Nobody wanted to give me a chance, nobody wanted to sign me. But #FSociety Did. I wish I could have given you more. I wish I could have become your champion, but I did all I could to make sure the High Roller Championship was one of the best championships in the entire wrestling world.
Ana Hayden was the first person to pin me, and now Ana Hayden will be my last opponent for F Society Wrestling. I’m sorry that you’re going to have to clean up her blood on your mats before you put them in storage. I’ll try not to make it look so much like a crime scene.
When you open these doors again, just know I’ll be back. And just know if you’re Tyson Gregory, Ally Morrow or Aidan Cochrane? I’m coming for each and every one of you when these doors open up again…I promise you that.
Ana…I don’t even know where we went wrong, but I hope this match can make it right.
Always yours,
H
Number Seven:
“Confess your sins. Ready for the moment of adrenaline when you finally face your opponent”
Health wise, Penny wasn’t doing the greatest but she was improving every single day. Hutch knew, as he sat backstage that he was going to have to tell Penny everything. The reason they couldn’t be together anymore but the reason he would continue to provide for her. The reason he would continue to give Spencer the best life he could.
With his hands shaking he picked up the phone and placed it to his ear as he tightly closed his eyes, Penny’s weak voice picked up on the other end as Hutch smiled gently.
“Before this match…I need to tell you some things…Just in case the worst happens.”
Best of wives and best of women.
Number Eight:
“Last chance to negotiate, send in your seconds see if they can set the record straight.”
For the moment he was alone backstage. The final show of #FSociety had been filled with people shaking hands and saying goodbye. Everyone knew that despite all the hugs and all the goodbyes. There could very well be another day, everyone would run into one another down the road sometime or another, but for Hutch and Ana…This could be it.
Hutch paused, in the quiet of the backstage he knew Ana was in a door just beyond to the left. If he listened hard enough he could probably hear voices, he wanted to stop, he wanted to walk in…To hug her…To tell her it was all okay. As he pushed his hands on the door he heard someone talking down the hallway opposite side of where her door stood.
Taking his hands off of the door that led to the door of her locker room, Hutch turned around and began to walk towards the ring.
No turning back now.
Number Nine:
“Look ‘em in the eye, aim no higher. Summon all the courage you require, then count!”
Number…
Ten….
Paces…
Fire…
“The Challenge: Demand Satisfaction, if they apologize, no need for further action.”
“Ana vs. Hutch one. It was the biggest match of my career, Ana. I knew who you were, you had heard of me but I don’t know if you knew what you were getting yourself into. We battled to a draw. I still remember how excited I was to take you on. Eventually, we moved off into different directions. I knew I would see you again. Ana vs. Hutch two. This one? It was a little more personal for you and I. I took the high road. I talked about how good of a wrestler you were. I talked about how much this match meant to me. I talked about if I had to lose this title I would rather lose it to Ana Hayden because I knew she could carry the banner all the way to the end…You were mean, vicious and angry. It was a side that I had never seen from you…But that’s always been you, hasn’t it? You play with a chip on your shoulder. I learned a lot from that match. I learned that you aren’t so hard that your exterior claims to be. I learned that underneath all of that animosity there really is a caring, loving person that I loved to be with for a while. And I learned that Bryan Williams was the worst thing to ever happen to you.”
“You and I both know you don’t want to be with him, and something has been off ever since you guys made it official. I get a little too excited, Ana. I pop off at the mouth, I drink a little too much and all of these feels come bubbling out. I want you to know, nobody has done it better than you have in FSociety. Sure, we may not be the main event. Sure, our rivalry should have been pushed to the moon. We both know that we deserved those spots. We both know that you and I should have been facing for the FSociety championship…We aren’t…That’s the lovely thing about professional wrestling.”
“Just because you hold the top title doesn’t mean you are the top champion. I don’t care what anyone says, the High Roller Champion has meant more to this company than the main champion itself. That’s not a knock on Tyson or Adrien. I’ve been in the ring one on one with one of those gentleman and I know exactly what he can do, but I carried the legacy and handed it off to Ana Hayden, unwillingly I might add. She carried it brilliantly.”
“It isn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, is it Ana? We’ve had a trouble past. I guess some of it is my fault. I guess I shouldn’t have…mistaken things. You see, I came to this country alone and afraid. My memory of America was nothing short of frightening when I was a lad when I came over. My parents warned me of all sorts of things, guns, robbery, thievery and kidnapping. That’s all I remembered from my trip…I was introduced to so much more when I came over as an adult…Probably too much, scenery and sensory overload if we are being honest.”
“Finally, an old friend I know from the circuits in England came through, Benji. I was so excited to have him here. It was something I could grasp onto. Something the felt like home, something for me to…For me to feel comfortable with for the first time. He, my fiance’ and daughter were all here for my first title win and everything just felt so right.”
“But…When they were away…That’s when I felt at my lowest. Then you showed up, Ana. At first just with Benji, and then all of a sudden you were signed…And then when Benji were away it was just us. We had each other. People want to paint this into something it’s not. It shows me how clueless people like Bryan Williams is when they comment about us, when he says something that wasn’t even there…It was though…It was there for me…It was there for you.”
“No, I am not talking about love at first sight or some kind of one night stand between us. We had someone we could both call. When things got shitty, when we both got lonely, or when we just wanted someone to go grab a burger with in a town we had neither been to. It was about feeing at home and in my skin here for the first time. That’s where people are misconstrued about my anger. Because once Bryan came along…It was all gone.”
“Am I placing my blame somewhere it shouldn’t be? Maybe. But I wanted to clear the air before everyone starts talking without knowing what the FUCK they are talking about. I’m tired of people assuming things. I’m tired of people talking shit what they have no clue about. They call me a bad father, they call me a man-whore, they call me a bad champion. They don’t know, Ana. And you know what they say and the words that come out of your mouth aren’t true. You’ve seen me look into Spencer’s eyes. You’ve seen me struggle and fight for fame and fortune. You’ve seen me scrap at restaurants and sleep in rentals and floors of hotels just so I would have more to send home so she can have a happy life.”
“Yet, you take my name and you rake it through the fucking mud. For what? To make yourself feel better? To make it seem like you’ve got a better life going on over there? Ana, we are both fucked and you know it. Dragging me isn’t going to make things any better for you…Because now? It’s personal. Now? This isn’t about a championship. This isn’t about a title. It’s about my family, it’s about my child, because you and your hack you call a boyfriend decided to meddle in business you should have never meddled in.”
“But…But I am willing to put all of this past us, Ana. All of this to the side, if you just…Apologize. Or maybe we both apologize. This…This doesn’t have to happen. It’s the last show, when the bell rings? We can shake one another hand and we can move on to something else…If it salvages our friendship, if we can move on from it. Apologize. You can keep your pretty little belt, and we can move into this without any further confrontation.”
“I know you though, Ana. I know that isn’t going to sit well, and I know there’ll be finger pointing back and forth between us until the bell rings. When it does? It isn’t going to be my fault that Bryan Williams won’t be able to recognize you when it’s all said and done. It really isn’t about that belt anymore, and I’ll lay it on top of you while you lay there in a bloody heap. You’ve both went too far, you shouldn’t have ever let your special needs boyfriend get involved, because that’s when it got personal between us.”
“This company doesn’t want us in the main event…Let’s focus on the real task at hand…Let’s shake on it…Let’s move on, and let’s bring down this machine in all of it’s glory on the last show…The ball is in your court. But I know what the answer is going to be…And that’s why…That’s why I am preparing for war. I’m preparing to do what I need to do, to prove a point…And if I have to do it to you to get through to Williams, Ana? So be it.”
Number Two:
“If they don’t grab a friend that’s your second.”
The knocks came hurriedly, Hutch Lanahan with a grey hooded sweatshirt over his head was rain soaked, and in the shoddy apartment complex, rain could be heard falling hard on the outside. Another couple of knocks came before footsteps was heard on the other side and a husky voice answered.
“Who is it?”
Hutch looked down and then back up to the door as he pulled the hood off of his messy, wet, blonde straggly hair and looked into the peephole.
“Open the door, Benji.”
On the other side, Benjamin Haskell placed his head on the wooded door and banged it lightly a few times. The two hadn’t spoke since their match, when Hutch had beaten Benji in less than a few minutes. Now? He needed his best friend more than ever and it had taken an act of congress to even find the dude.
“How did you find me?”
Hutch stepped up and looked into the peep hole.
“You may have left this door closed for a while, but the door between us will always be open…I had a hunch. Open up…”
The door pushed open and quickly snapped shut behind Hutch, it wasn’t even like anyone particularly would have hunted Benji down, but the bearded man had become a recluse since his disappearance in #FSociety. The room was warm to Hutch, being out in the rain, but the area was an absolute mess.
“I had just put some tea on.”
Hutch grinned, but Benji didn’t match it as he turned his back and walked into the kitchen, he returned with a steaming tea pot with two small cups. Placing two tea bags into the cups, he poured the steaming water over each of them. Hutch quickly grabbed his to warm his fingers.
“Sit…What brings you?”
The small dining room table was barely big enough for both of them, but Hutch settled into his small wooden seat as it scraped across the floor as he sat his glass down and steeped his tea in the hot water.
“I just…I don’t know man…I’ve been worried about you.
Nodding, Benji leaned down and took a swill of his warm tea before he looked back up at Hutch as he poured a little sugar into his tea. In the dingy light, Benji looked just as tired as Hutch. The two men looked like two stragglers down on their luck. It was a far cry from what the duo looked like the first time they had gotten together in Vegas.
“Ah, worried is the amount of times you’ve called me. A need. I can see it on your face.”
Hutch sighed into his tea as he lifted it to his lips and then sat it back down. Leaning back in his chair with a creak, he looked up at Benji.
“I just…I have a lot to get off my chest…And I have an apology to make…And…A favor.”
So he set it.
Hutch told Benji everything. Told him about his problems with Penny. Told Benji how he hadn’t been a good father to Spencer. Everything about having him and Ana around and how much it helped him, and even how he fell in love with Ana when they were hanging out. Throughout all of Hutch spilling his guts out to his best friend. Benji never changed his facial expression. Occasionally he would not. Sometimes they would share an empty chuckle, sometimes Hutch was on the verge of tears.
Both, on the verge of tears when Hutch told Benji how much his friendship meant. The final request came, after what seemed like hours to Hutch, but was only minutes.
“It’s the last show. Hell, it may be the only time we get to be in the same place at the same time with Ana…Why don’t we just make things right? Come with me?”
Extending his hand across the table. Benji stared long and hard forward across the room. Finally he looked over to Hutch and shook his head.
“I can’t.”
Number Three:
“Have your seconds meet face to face, negotiate a peace or negotiate a time and place”
“I’ll beat the fuck out of him, maybe that will solve it…”
Hutch had told himself. For weeks he had prepared for a fight, but he realized that he wasn’t fighting to prepare for Ana anymore, he was preparing to beat the hell out of Bryan Williams. If that meant taking Bryan out of his title match…So be it…If that meant costing him ever having anything more than a handshake with Ana…So be it.
As he walked out the door, he had mentioned his plans to Benji, told him that he was on the next flight to Louisiana, that’s where he would catch Bryan Williams first, and he would deal with it himself. It wasn’t until Hutch was about to board that plane when he felt a hand on his shoulder just as he was about to go through the gate, and Benjamin Haskell stood there out of breath.
“I—I didn’t want you to do anything brash…I’ll go with you okay…I’ll talk to Bryan myself if I have to…I want to resolve this as peacefully as possible…Even if I hate the bastard…Nobody else needs to get hurt…It’s gone too far.”
A plan was formulated. A plan to gather together and make things right…Ana…Bryan…Benji and Hutch. While it was a long-shot…Hutch continued to go back and forth and what he wanted to do. Half of him wanted Ana’s head on the stake. Half of him wanted to pummel Bryan Williams until he went to the hospital for his 47th visit this year…The other side of him wanted peace, and wanted it to be over once #FSociety closed it’s doors.
“We will meet back up in Vegas, okay?”
And so, Hutch let Benji take his flight, and he would catch the next one back out to Las Vegas.
Most disputes die and no one shoots…
Number Four:
“If they don’t reach a peace, that’s alright. Time to get some pistols and a doctor on site.”
“He didn’t want to talk?”
“Nope. Neither did Ana, mate.”
Sighing, Hutch sat on the end of the doctors table as Haskell had made his way into the room as well. The fatigue of training and traveling along with the emotional distress eventually had gotten to Hutch. The same doctor that Benji had seen prior his match with Hutch would do the job.
“Well, you know what that means…”
Hutch trailed off as the doctor wrote a few things down on the clipboard. He wore a long white coat along with a pair of thick framed glasses as he looked down at Hutch.
“It means, you have a clean bill of health but I would advise you to get some rest. I’m obviously clearing you to compete, but you really need to sleep…I’ve prescribed you some medications to help you. Take these, especially the night before your match, okay?”
Nodding, Hutch took the piece of paper. Benji and Hutch both got up to leave and turn toward the door, but Hutch turned around for a moment to the doctor.
“Doc…What could I pay you to show up to the arena for my match with Ana? I have a feeling things are going to be…Bad…I want you to be there just in case something happens in that match. I don’t want to die in the middle of a wrestling ring.”
It was the first time the weight of it all had hit Hutch and so hit Benji in return. Would the war be that bad? Would it come to blood and gore? Someone bleeding out? That’s how much Hutch was willing to risk it all to end this…Once and for all.
“Jesus, that bad?”
Nodding, the doctor looked over to Benji who looked slightly more reputable than Hutch Lanahan with his hair combed back and mustache and beard game proper, he also gave a nod and the three of them shared a small, uncomfortable laugh.
“Alright, I’ll be there. Just do me a favor and just let it be a backstage pass and not work, okay?”
Number Five:
“Duel before the sun is in the sky. Pick a place to die where it’s high and dry.”
All of the bags had been packed and the gear had been labeled in the boxes, as Hutch looked around. Slowly the sun had set over the Vegas strip beneath him. For a while, he had lived the dream…If only for a moment he had tasted the American Dream. It was as sweet as Apple Pie…If Vegas would have been the “death” of his career in a match with Ana were a winner had to be declared, and an issue had to be settled?
Vegas wasn’t so bad.
The only thing that Hutch had left out was a bottle of wine that he had gotten one night after he and Ana had left a burger place. Hutch had felt so good, he decided to buy some on the way home and enjoy a drink. Due to the traveling and making shows, he hadn’t had time to finish it. Tonight would probably be that night.
Lifting his glass in the air, he gave a sideways smile. He wondered what Ana was thinking, he prayed for a better tomorrow.
“Here’s to you…Vegas.”
Number Six:
“Leave a note for your next of kin. Tell him where you’ve been, pray that hell or heaven lets you in.”
Dear, FSociety:
Thank you.
Thank you for giving me a home. Thank you for giving just some lad with a hope and a couple of dollars a chance. Along the way in this cut-throat business I have made mistakes. They’re not my first and they sure as hell won’t be my last.
Nobody wanted to give me a chance, nobody wanted to sign me. But #FSociety Did. I wish I could have given you more. I wish I could have become your champion, but I did all I could to make sure the High Roller Championship was one of the best championships in the entire wrestling world.
Ana Hayden was the first person to pin me, and now Ana Hayden will be my last opponent for F Society Wrestling. I’m sorry that you’re going to have to clean up her blood on your mats before you put them in storage. I’ll try not to make it look so much like a crime scene.
When you open these doors again, just know I’ll be back. And just know if you’re Tyson Gregory, Ally Morrow or Aidan Cochrane? I’m coming for each and every one of you when these doors open up again…I promise you that.
Ana…I don’t even know where we went wrong, but I hope this match can make it right.
Always yours,
H
Number Seven:
“Confess your sins. Ready for the moment of adrenaline when you finally face your opponent”
Health wise, Penny wasn’t doing the greatest but she was improving every single day. Hutch knew, as he sat backstage that he was going to have to tell Penny everything. The reason they couldn’t be together anymore but the reason he would continue to provide for her. The reason he would continue to give Spencer the best life he could.
With his hands shaking he picked up the phone and placed it to his ear as he tightly closed his eyes, Penny’s weak voice picked up on the other end as Hutch smiled gently.
“Before this match…I need to tell you some things…Just in case the worst happens.”
Best of wives and best of women.
Number Eight:
“Last chance to negotiate, send in your seconds see if they can set the record straight.”
For the moment he was alone backstage. The final show of #FSociety had been filled with people shaking hands and saying goodbye. Everyone knew that despite all the hugs and all the goodbyes. There could very well be another day, everyone would run into one another down the road sometime or another, but for Hutch and Ana…This could be it.
Hutch paused, in the quiet of the backstage he knew Ana was in a door just beyond to the left. If he listened hard enough he could probably hear voices, he wanted to stop, he wanted to walk in…To hug her…To tell her it was all okay. As he pushed his hands on the door he heard someone talking down the hallway opposite side of where her door stood.
Taking his hands off of the door that led to the door of her locker room, Hutch turned around and began to walk towards the ring.
No turning back now.
Number Nine:
“Look ‘em in the eye, aim no higher. Summon all the courage you require, then count!”
Number…
Ten….
Paces…
Fire…
